50: Jeanne Tripplehorn (June 10)

She's finally moved beyond being known for that hot sex scene with Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct. That's thanks in large part to her memorable performance in the HBO series Big Love (2006-11) as Barb Henrickson, the seriously conflicted first wife of a polygamist patriarch.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images

50: Helen Hunt (June 15)

The star of the '90s TV comedy Mad About You received an Oscar nomination for her body-baring performance in 2012's The Sessions. On the red carpet, Hunt showed off a shiny blue gown from low-budget clothier H&M — a thriftiness to complement her $700,000 in borrowed jewels.

Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images

50: Greg Kinnear (June 17)

He majored in broadcast journalism at the U. of Arizona, then shifted toward acting, appearing most charmingly in As Good as It Gets and Little Miss Sunshine. This fall he'll go the TV route, starring in Rake on Fox, as a criminal defense lawyer with the requisite chaotic personal life.

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

50: George Michael (June 25)

He was the lead singer of the 1980s Brit pop band Wham! — the exclamation point always included — but became a megastar once he went solo ("Faith," "I Want Your Sex"). In March the Internet was ablaze with a rumor that Michael had died in a Jet Ski crash. T'wasn't so.

Foc Kan/WireImage/Getty Images

60: Cornel West (June 2)

Calling West "controversial and outspoken" is an understatement: The socialist professor of philosophy (now at Union Theological Seminary) has referred to the U.S. as a "racist patriarchal nation." He writes: "I must feel the fire of my soul so my intellectual blues can set others on fire."

Bryant Hawkins/The Vicksburg Post/AP Images

60: John Edwards (June 10)

Lots of ups and downs for the former North Carolina senator. He was the Democrat's promising young star, twice a presidential candidate, until he was charged with violating campaign laws to cover up an affair. He was acquitted and is said to be trying to restart his legal career.

Chuck Burton/AP Images

60: Tim Allen (June 13)

The Home Improvement guy is playing another man's man character on Last Man Standing — which ABC renewed for a third season. Allen has been doing stand-up in Las Vegas, inspiring online criticisms of his "potty mouth," as well as some raves: "I laughed so hard it actually hurt."

Harry Pluviose/Retna Ltd./Corbis

60: Cyndi Lauper (June 22)

Six words: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." So sang the squeaky, crazy-haired songstress in the 1980s. Recently, she wrote the music for Broadway's Kinky Boots, and is celebrating the 30th anniversary of her first album with a tour. Fans can get personal with $300 "meet and greet" tickets.

Ida Mae Astute/ABC/Getty Images

70: Joan Van Ark (June 16)

She was Valene Ewing on Dallas, and kept at that role on longtime (1979-93) evening soap Knots Landing. In recent years there's been much online chatter regarding Van Ark's alarming "zombie-like" appearance — the result, some surmise, of what seems to be a series of very bad plastic surgeries.

Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images

70: Barry Manilow, June 17

We just can't smile without him. OK, we totally can, but this easy-listening music master — as in "Mandy," "Can't Smile Without You" and "Copacabana (At the Copa)" — still performs live before his countless Fanilows, as his followers are called.

Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Getty Images

70: Newt Gingrich (June 17)

The former House speaker is famous as an architect of the GOP's Contract With America in the '90s, and for his latest presidential bid. Today he's a big tweeter, often offering such witticisms as "McDonald's grilled chicken mcwrap at 250 calories is both a dollar and pound bargain."

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

80: Joan Rivers (June 8)

A groundbreaker for women in comedy, Rivers is famously snarky about celebs' red-carpet wear. But she's also blunt about her own (perceived) flaws and unapologetic about her attempts to fix them. She detailed her various surgeries in Men Are Stupid … and They Like Big Boobs.

Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic/Getty Images

80: Gene Wilder (June 11)

Born Jerome Silberman, he's still appreciated by the many who cultishly rescreen Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and his other 1970s comedies. Wilder has just penned a serious novella set in World War II-era Europe called Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance.

Mark Davis/Picture Group/Getty I

80: Dianne Feinstein (June 22)

Feinstein has been a prominent and determined Democrat in the U.S. Senate for more than two decades. This year she introduced a bill banning assault weapons, and when it went nowhere, she said, "This is a lifetime pursuit for me. If I can't get it done this time, there will be another time."